Retro Spins: Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers - Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)

 

Between 1985 and 1986, Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers spent a lot of time on the road. This kicked off with their appearance at Live Aid, which was followed by their own world tour, and subsequent live album, Pack Up the Plantation: Live! Rather than return to the studio, the band instead took Bob Dylan up on an offer to join him on the road for his True Confessions Tour. They would then join the Grateful Dead for a few shows between 1986, and 1987. Because of this, it would be two years since his last studio album before Let Me Up (I've Had Enough) would be recorded and released.

It would receive a generally mediocre reception, with critics calling it simple and fragmented. The overall lackluster opinion of it would also translate to sales and charts, making it one of the worst in the band's career since 1978's You're Gonna Get It!

If I'm being honest, I tuned most of this album out. There wasn't much, if anything, which grabbed my attention. By track six, I couldn't even tell you what any of the previous sounded like. It was all relatively forgettable.

All the momentum Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers had built up with me on 1982's Long After Dark, had began to falter under the drastic musical change of 1985's Southern Accents, and with Let Me Up, was pretty much gone.

It's a shame. This isn't how I wanted my listening sessions to go. I wanted to walk away from it all saying that while I may have been burned out on Free Falling, that there was a reason they were a legacy band. At the end of it, I'm just not seeing the mass appeal. Candidly, I can't even say there was a standout track in it all. Everything was just sort of, blah.

Rather than jump into another studio album, Petty instead joined George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne to record the song, Handle Me With Care. It would initially be planned as a B-side to one of Harrison's singles but be deemed too good for that. The end result was the birth of The Traveling Wilburys, and their album, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1, released in 1988 by Warner Bros.

Petty would then release his own solo album in 1989, Full Moon Fever. While many of the Heartbreakers would contribute to the recording sessions, so to did the likes of George Harrison, Del Shannon, Roy Orbison, Jim Keltner, and Jeff Lynne. While the album was released by MCA, Petty too would shift to Warner for his next studio album, 1994's Wildflowers.

Despite his solo success, the Heartbreakers were far done. The line-up of Tom Petty, Mike Campbell, Howie Epstein, Benmont Tench, and Stan Lynch would continue through 1991's Into The Great Wide Open.  Lynch would depart in 1994, citing creative issues with Petty, and the band would continue on as a four piece through 1999's Echo.

Struggling with a heroin addiction, Epstein would be fired in 2002. With his departure, the band would not only replace him with previous member Ron Blair but expand to a six-piece with the inclusion of Scott Thurston, and Steve Ferrone. This iteration would finish out the storied career of Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers with three more albums; The Last DJ (2002), Mojo (2010), and Hypnotic Eye (2014). Petty would also release his third and final solo album, Highway Companion in 2006.

The Tom Petty Radio channel launched in 2015 on Sirius Radio, and by 2017, the band was embarking on a 40th anniversary tour. The tour wrapped up on September 25 of that year, and tragically, it was reported that Petty had passed away just seven days later. The worst part about it, his death could have been avoided. It was ruled an overdose from opioids and antidepressants, which he was taking to aid him with severe pain from several medical conditions, including a fractured hip.

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